Influenza vaccination coverage at community pharmacies: Positioning, needs, expectations and involvement of community pharmacists in the Franche-Comté region

International audience; Introduction: Influenza vaccination coverage currently remains below the 75% recommended threshold by the World Health Organization.

To correct this situation, experiments have been successively carried out in France to enable community pharmacists to vaccinate at-risk populations.

In this context, a study was conducted with pharmacists from the French Franche-Comté region to evaluate their positioning, needs and expectations regarding influenza vaccination at community pharmacies.Materials and methods: A survey was created and sent to licensed pharmacists in March of 2018.

This consisted of 4 parts: characteristics of the community pharmacy; positioning of the pharmacist regarding vaccinations carried out at the pharmacy; training needs and expectations; and willingness to implement vaccinations.Results: The participation rate in this survey was 32% (137/427).

More than 90% of the pharmacists agreed that community pharmacies' assets were adequate for the implementation of these vaccinations (accessibility and availability), although 52% considered this complicated.

Their main fears were reluctance from patients and conflicts of interest with other health professionals authorized to vaccinate (58%).

The needs and expectations regarding pharmacy student training were essential for 94% of them as well as continuous training of practicing pharmacists (96%).

The willingness of pharmacists to vaccinate stemmed from the fact that influenza vaccination coverage would increase for at-risk subjects (36%).

Conclusion: This survey allowed us to assess the favorable positioning and the real interest of pharmacists from Franche-Comté regarding the influenza vaccination done at community pharmacies, given the proviso that they were given relevant training and allocated adequate resources.